James Ryder Randall

James Ryder Randall (1 January 1839-15 January 1908) was an American journalist and poet who is best known as the author of "Maryland, My Maryland", the state song of Maryland.

Biography
James Ryder Randall was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1839. After his friend was killed in the Baltimore riot of 1861, he was inspired to write "Maryland, My Maryland", which praised the historical bravery of Marylanders and decried Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant for the bloodshed in his home city. His work was published on 26 April 1861, a week after his friend's death, and Jennie Cary later set his words to the tune of O Tannenbaum to create what would, in 1939, become the state song of Maryland, as well as a popular marching song of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Tuberculosis prevented him from serving in the Confederate Army, but he was eventually able to join the Confederate States Navy, and he settled in Augusta, Georgia. After the war, he became the Washington DC correspondent for The Augusta Chronicle, and his later poems were deeply religious in nature. He died in 1908.